Kim Jong-un’s team has claimed the missile already has a range of 3,000km but after it is “modernised” it will be able to hit the US, Russia’s private Interfax news agency said.
Anton Morozov, a Russian lawmaker who has just returned from Pyongyang, said North Korea is aiming to increase the range of its ballistic missiles to 9,000km – which could reach the US Pacific island of Guam.
He said: “There was no talk about the deadline.”
The Russians are almost acting as an intermediary between the US and North Korea, with Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, last night warning his American counterpart, Rex Tillerson, the escalation of tension on the Korean peninsula is “unacceptable”.
Mr Morozov, who embarked on a three day visit to the despot kingdom with two other Russian lawmakers, said on Friday Kim was preparing to launch another long-range missile “in the nearest future”.
He claimed to have seen calculations showing the missile could hit the US west coast.
The Russian, said: “They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile.
“They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States.
“As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future.
“And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.”
The North Koreans claimed to have technology which would allow them to bring a nuclear warhead down to earth intact, he added.
His warning sparked fears among CIA officials and US generals Kim could detonate a missile, or at least test another one, on Monday or Tuesday as it was Columbus Day in the US yesterday, and today is the founding anniversary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.
Kim usually uses national holidays, in the North and the US, to show off his military might and send out warning signals to the world.
On 4th of July this year he launched the country’s first Inter-Continental ballistic missile, calling it a “gift for the American b*******”.
North Korea has been suspiciously silent, in terms of missile tests and launches, since September 15, when Kim fired a missile over Japan.
Since then, the rhetoric between the US and the North has risen to “dangerous levels”, experts have said.
Fears a hydrogen bomb – or an H-bomb – could be launched over the Pacific by Kim were raised on September 22 when North Korea threatened it would.
If Pyongyang follows through with the threat, it would be the first nuclear weapon detonated in the atmosphere in decades.
The threat came after US President Donald Trump said he would “totally destroy” North Korea during a speech to the United Nations (UN).
Kim said the US would “pay dearly” and his country “will consider with seriousness exercising of a corresponding, highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history”.
Last Thursday, President Trump discussed the situation in North Korea with military leaders, saying it was “the calm before the storm”.
When asked what he meant, the president said: “You’ll find out.”